


for both are infinite

by lately (aeggyu)



Category: Infinite (Band)
Genre: 1k to 2k, Flash Fic, M/M, Rating May Change, Woogyuly Prompts, fic anthology
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-15
Updated: 2018-06-25
Packaged: 2019-01-17 14:57:47
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 16,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12368184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aeggyu/pseuds/lately
Summary: Compilation of minifics based on the prompts from the woogyuly Twitter account





	1. Time is tickin'

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Needle and Thread  
> Word Count: EEEHhh like 1200   
> Soulmate au

1.

Sunggyu is ten. He stares at the mark on his wrist and doodles around it with his pen. The teacher, a robust man with thick eyebrows, a wide nose, and the look of a bank consultant, smacks him on the head with a ruler and sends him to wash his hands.

Sunggyu watches the water running through his arms as he scrubs the ink off his tattoo, 1926 in thick, mystical ink and wonders if his soulmate has the same four numbers tattooed.

2.

He discovers how much he likes music when he’s in middle school, straddling the line between childhood and adolescence, and later forms a band.

They like to think that they’re cool and don’t need to find the person with whom they’re bonded because music is their only lover, that they’re a group against the world, and that what they have can surpass any laws of destiny and society. In reality, they’re just a bunch of guys who barely learned to play with instruments and who pretend their singing is good.

The group disbands and Sunggyu leaves for Seoul, searching for bigger things, unknowing he’s a fool who can’t go against destiny, and ends up debuting in a boyband along with six other guys.

There, he meets Woohyun.

3.

In this unreliable world where everything is possible, people are born with the time they’re bound to meet their soulmate, the person who shares an unbreakable bond with them for the rest of their lives.

It’s 20:43 when Sunggyu is introduced to the new trainee, a boy a couple of years older than him who supposedly did some modelling and has a decent voice and wants to dwell in the idol life.

Sunggyu wants to believe he’s going to get along with the rest of his bandmates, or at least pretend he does, for it is the price he has to pay to be on stage. But alas, he knows that’s not going to be possible from the moment Woohyun steps through the door.

They’re told that they’re the greatest voices of the group, that they’re going to complement each other’s colors and that they’re training together to achieve the best results for the sake of their music. They’re told many things, but all Sunggyu hears is that they’re competition, and that he should win.

4.

Woohyun, like everyone in the world, has a tattoo with the time he’s supposed to meet his soulmate. It reads ‘2315’ and he thinks little of it; that’s what he tells Sunggyu when they’re sharing life-long secrets in the middle of the night in the darkness of their room in a world where they’re inseparable friends for the cameras, and barely getting there in real life.

“The time will come and I probably won’t realize,” Woohyun tells him as they head to bed, uncomfortably side-by-side. “And that’s okay because I will be too busy kissing my soulmate to notice.”

Many years later, as he found Woohyun sobbing in a dark room after a concert and his expensive watch marked 23:15, Sunggyu would think back to that day and wonder if Woohyun knew. And he would wonder, as well, if it was true that they were like a needle and its thread.

He would be too stunned with the realization to console Woohyun; in fact, he would say so himself.

“I don’t know how to comfort you.”

Woohyun would laugh, ashamed and raw, and say to the little taps on his back, “What you’re doing is enough.”

And Sunggyu would try to believe him.

5.

Everyone had time tattooed from the moment they were born to the day they died. And the tattoo would fade with them as the flesh rotted and gave place to bones and then to ashes, or would disappear with the burning body that also became ashes. But the bond would not, for it would influence the lives of the people around the person with the mark.

Most of the people had the same time as their soulmates, since it commonly marked the first time two soul-bonded people met. This was not the case of Sunggyu and Woohyun, for they weren’t ready to face their destiny at the same time. But people come and go, relationships change, time passes.

The years go by and unrelentless youth slips away.

As Woohyun steps into the apartment, taking off his shoes, and shrugging off his jacket still cool from the october breeze, the planets align and the time is right for the not-quite-star-crossed, not-quite-lovers to reunite.

“I can’t believe you thought of spending Chuseok here,” Woohyun says. “My mom was very excited when I told her you were going with me.”

“It’s more convenient than going all the way to Jeonju for a day,” Sunggyu replies, still on his underwear and with unmatching socks.

Woohyun stares up and down, and then meets Sunggyu’s eyes. “Just get dressed, will you.”

Sunggyu grunts something, combing his disheveled hair, and yells “there’s beer on the fridge” as he goes back to his room. 

“Of course there is,” Woohyun mumbles, chuckles.

Sunggyu comes back from his room, now dressed more decently, albeit with a casual style, and watches Woohyun make his way around the kitchen.

“What, are you going to cook? Aren’t we leaving?” he asks as he enters the kitchen. Woohyun has a cutting board in one hand and a ball of string cheese in the other.

“‘was just gonna make my’elf a snack wh’le wait’ng,” he claims, cheeks full.

“Yah, how long did you think I was going to take?” Sunggyu asks as he takes the board away from Woohyun and bites a chunk of the cheese.

“You pig,” Woohyun tells him like he has the higher moral ground. They stare at each other without a word.

Then, they both laugh. “Let’s just go.”

They put on their shoes without any more conversation but with small smiles on their faces, enveloped in the comfortable silence that comes with knowing a person from years and years. But eventually Woohyun decides to break it.

“You know, this meeting with my family…” Woohyun starts, voice growing smaller as he lets the sentence drop. His smile grows.

“Yeah?” Sunggyu mumbles distractedly, pocketing his keys.

“I think I can be misinterpreted,” Woohyun says, shrugging as if to rest importance.

“How?” Sunggyu asks, meeting Woohyun’s eyes. He didn’t realize when they grew so close in the confined space.

“Because of this,” Woohyun replies. Then, and before Sunggyu can do anything, presses his lips to Sunggyu’s softly, tenderly, as if he was putting his lips against cotton candy with his eyes closed and his pulse racing and his heart stuttering.

It is 19:26, but Sunggyu does not know.

  
  
  
  
  


(Bonus:

It’s late at night and even though they’re finished early with one of their first concerts, they are still on the road, the seven of them together, buzzing with excitement. Sunggyu was supposed to call shotgun, but he was so tired he didn’t protest when Sungyeol pushed him aside to sit on the front seat.

So they end up together in the back of the van, Woohyun and Sunggyu. Sungjong is there too, but he’s too busy texting someone to pay attention to them. Sunggyu falls asleep with his head resting in Woohyun’s shoulder, despite the chatter with the rest of the guys.

Many years later, Woohyun would remember how he stared at the hour on his phone, 23:15, and brushed the tattoo on the back of his neck with a face growing hot and smile getting hopeful. And he would remember thinking how it wasn’t the right time to tell, yet.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> originally they were never going to realize lmao i hate soulmate aus they're so hard to write


	2. hallelujahs for the lost souls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Nightmares  
> Word count: 1,030  
> sort of a mad max/zombie au where nothing really happens

In this kind of world, only a few survive.

Woohyun cocks his old sawn-off shotgun with one hand and drives with the other. Pulling the trigger and the consequent recoil make the car swirl, causing ripples in the deserted highway. He hits a bump. Two. His opponent does not care. The other person evades the shot and speeds up in his getaway bike.

That is the first time Woohyun meets Sunggyu.

-

The second time is a bit before a sandstorm hits the place he sort of calls his temporary home. Although Woohyun mostly spends time on the road, searching for food and water and how to make a living, there are times he can come to the abandoned shanty house at the edge of an unnamed road in the middle of this living nightmare. He's sort of become accustomed to the place; it's where he's almost tried to kill himself two times.

He's lying down in his ratty couch, rereading an old magazine in a language he doesn't understand, when the door opens with a bang and is shut back again.

He stands up and by instinct, grabs his gun from the floor next to the couch. His finger readies itself on the trigger with a familiarity that comes with years of shooting things for a living as he points at the intruder before even getting a proper look at him.

The stranger is not one of the fully infected, that much he knows at least. But still, trusting lone individuals in these times is not in Woohyun's book—He knows because he's one.

At any rate, the stranger raises both hands in surrender after pulling down the mask that covers his mouth and stammers something resembling a "wait!"

Woohyun actually takes a moment to analyze the guy. Tan skin and big clothes over a skinny body. Bloodied boots. A thick coat. A hat. Small eyes. A pair of goggles in his hair. Leather gloves. He recognizes those.

Woohyun takes a second more than he should, because when he screams "You!" the other man is already pointing a revolver at him. "I recognize you!"

Tense seconds pass with them pointing at each other. In a very twisted way, you could say it’s love at first sight.

"I saw the car parked outside and I didn't want to believe it," the other man says. Then, he turns his gun, letting it hang from his finger as a rudimentary peace offering, and adds, "My name’s Sunggyu. I’m looking for a place to stay through the dust storm."

In another times, if a stranger knocked on his door asking for refuge due to the inclement weather, Woohyun probably would have helped out of the kindness of his heart.

But the spreading of the virus and subsequent world going batshit crazy has taught him better. 

Sunggyu, as the man refers to himself, kicks his gun away. "There aren’t many houses around here. I only need to wait it out for a couple of hours. Then you will never see me again."

Woohyun doesn't drop his gun. He licks his lips, furrows his brows. "You can stay," he says. Then, "undress."

Sunggyu smiles, incredulous "What?"

"So I can see you're not carrying any weapon." This is, after all, the man who was exchanging blows with during their times on the road a couple of days ago. “Or that you’re not bitten.”

"Seriously?" the man asks with disbelief.

"Seriously," Woohyun confirms.

Then, unexpectedly, Sunggyu laughs. "Ah, the things one has to do to survive."

He starts off with the gloves, velcro echoing in the room, and then moves on to the jacket. He shrugs it off some sort of finesse Woohyun has to admit hadn’t seen in a long time. It drops to the floor unceremoniously as the man grabs the edges of his ratty cotton t-shirt.

“That’s alright,” Woohyun says, still pointing the gun at him. Because really, what sort of elaborate scheme would involve knives or guns hidden under the shirt that looked so big in relation to the man’s frame.

But Sunggyu disregards him, shrugging off his shirt soaked in sweat and sand.

“I’m going to kneel now,” the man says, “only to take off the boots, alright?”

Woohyun nods, his arm firm. He’s getting tired, but he can’t risk lowering his guard. The man unties his black boots and takes them down, proceeding to shove them aside as he steps closer. From the sound they make, one after the other, when they hit the floor, Woohyun assumes they’re pretty heavy.

Next, Sunggyu takes yet another step towards him and unbuckles his belt. Woohyun wastes a second gazing at the long, bony fingers working on the zipper, tugging at his pants, but then switches back to stare at the man in the eyes. He has a proud look on his face, almost solemn. It unnerves Woohyun, who does not want to believe this man is anything but bad news.

When he’s done, kicking the pants away and gripping his underwear, chest pressed against the barrel of the sawed-off shotgun, he says, “now, if you excuse me...”

Woohyun doesn’t like the deviant smile at all.

-

Now that it has been years and bodies are decomposing in the streets, Woohyun remembers the way the infection started very vaguely. Most of the times what wakes him up at night isn’t the images of his friends and family dying on the hands of each other, or the guilt of running away when everyone else searched for refuge on communities to defend and care for each other in the aftermath of the end of the world.

What comes to his mind are merely flashes, nowadays. The news anchors panicking. Channels flipping. The sirens blaring in the distance. Gunshots going off. The road. The fear. His own hands, covered in disgusting, rotten blood. And above all, the perpetual, unvarying smell of death.

Which is why as Woohyun wakes up that morning naked, handcuffed to the bed, and without a trace of Sunggyu’s shape next to him, the faint sound of his bike driving off, he thinks it’s weird.

It’s weird, since that is the best sleep he’s ever had in years.


	3. Spark something in me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Halloween  
> Word Count: 1042  
> Demon!Wh?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M SO SORRY THIS IS LATE AND SO LAME one day i'll rewrite it

So here’s the thing. Woohyun was a demon.

But he’s not like, evil. He was a pretty cool dude, or at least he wanted to believe that. Maybe once in a while he let himself go and enjoy the pleasures of life and love in the human world. So what? Parties in the underworld usually involved a couple of grotesque shows and honestly Woohyun was more into the human parties, even though he was kind of shy with people of other species.

So there he was, standing alone at a dress up party to which he was invited while pretending to be a nerdy accounting major at a local college, cleverly disguised as… well… himself. All he had to do was let his horns, teeth, and tail free from the magical constraints he put on them to hide in the human world.

(He had thought he was being too realistic, but when some friends dressed up as superheroes and cartoon characters had approached him and glanced at his green sweater and circular glasses and asked “really? No effort?” he realized that maybe human perception was slightly skewed. But whatever, at least he was in no danger.)

He leaned on the bar and took a sip from his can of beer, scanned the crowd on the dancefloor, and wondered who to make a move on. However, as he considered a short man with blonde hair dressed as an anime character one of Woohyun’s friends—Myungsoo was it?—had shown to him before, a person sat next to him.

“What are you supposed to be?” The man asked before ordering himself a drink. At first glance, Woohyun thought the man was talking to himself, but then he turned around and offered a smile, encouraging him to go on.

Woohyun placed a hand on his chest and closed his eyes. “The devil in disguise,” he said solemnly. Then, barely holding in his chuckle, he opened his eyes again.

The other man wasn’t too impressed.

“Get it? The horns and tail? But I’m not like, a typical demon?” Woohyun added, pointing to his actual, real body parts. The man was given a beer and only lifted his eyebrows. “What about you, anyway?”

“I’m obviously a werewolf,” he said, pointing at a headband with fake ears on his head. He took a gulp from his can. “It’s actually a pun. My shirt, ‘American Werewolf in Seoul’?”

He showed Woohyun his shirt. It was a grey-ish cotton shirt with the armholes cut in disarray. The image would be hard to be seen by common people under the neon light, but Woohyun, thanks to his non-human eyesight, was able to appreciate it in greater detail. He kinda wished he couldn’t. It was pretty bad.

“So… are you American?” Woohyun asked, trying to make conversation.

“No, it’s—it’s a band. It’s very dark. You wouldn’t get it,” the man dismissed him. “I’m Sunggyu, by the way.”

“Woohyun,” he replied. “A pleasure to meet you!”

He was about to offer his hand, but remembered from his human interaction classes back in the underworld reminded him there was a time and place for everything. Deciding to play it smoothly, he ordered another round for both.

“Nice, uh, collar, by the way,” he added, pointing at the leather band around Sunggyu’s neck.

Sunggyu snorted.

“You’re kinda cute,” Sunggyu said, his eyes turning into crescents. Woohyun really, really felt like smiling back. So he did.

A loud bang interrupted the loud dance music that was previously playing. Woohyun glanced around; there was a stage on the far back and a rock group with some The Nightmare Before Christmas costumes was setting up their instruments.

“Good night everyone, we’re ‘Oyster Boy’ and we’ll be playing for the rest of the night,” what Woohyun supposed was the leader spoke.

Then, Sunggyu groaned and grabbed his hand. “Let’s get out of here.”

—

Sunggyu’s lips tasted fantastic. Slightly ethylic. Like a time-ticking bomb. Neither of them were drunk but Woohyun felt lighthearted, and Sunggyu? Sunggyu felt so soft, with his hands holding him by the waist tenderly and his eyes closed and his hair tussled. There was a little red on the tip of his ears.

“So,” he said when they parted. His nose was red too.

They were lying on the bed at Sunggyu’s apartment, a small place where you could see the kitchen from the bed and everything was in disarray. Woohyun however had a feeling it was an organized mess.

“So,” Woohyun replied, completely infatuated. Humans were wonderful.

Sunggyu took the glasses off Woohyun delicately, folded them with the same care, and put them on the night stand. He leaned forward and rummaged through one of the drawers. Woohyun wondered why he wasn’t coming back to kiss him as Sunggyu took out a small bottle and a couple of small aluminum-like packages.

Once the needed items were dropped on the bed, Woohyun lifted his eyebrows at the sight of Sunggyu leaning over him while taking off his fake ears.

“What?” Sunggyu asked after seeing his confusion. “Why don’t you take yours off?”

Woohyun came to the realization that Sunggyu was expecting his horns to be part of a headband much like Sunggyu’s dog ears were. Maybe he could wait for Sunggyu to turn around to hide his horns and tail with magic like usual, but the man’s whole attention was now on him.

“Uh,” Woohyun said, inching away. As he moved, he felt painfully aware of certain body part asking for attention.

“Oh wait, do you want to do with with the costumes on?” Sunggyu guessed (and he guessed pretty wrong, but who was Woohyun to tell him?) as he straddled Woohyun’s hips while putting his headband back on. For some reason, Woohyun let him.

“Uh-huh.” He nodded, growing more and more conscious of the weight on that sensitive part of him, on Sunggyu dropping kisses on his neck.

He genuinely liked Sunggyu, he really did. Even if they had just met. So he decided that, even if it was a little cowardly and selfish from him to do so, he would tell him in the morning. For now, Woohyun only wanted to enjoy the warmth and exhilaration the man on top of him was providing.


	4. going for the win

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: When you love someone, you...  
> Word count: 1,428

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DNf5V9jXkAAjmNL.jpg:large

It is a known tradition for the New Hope Institute of the Arts to hold a talent show for every school level—from elementary to high school—at the same date every year, where the brightest minds of the music in the country compete against each other in a full-blown extravaganza of talent.

For two years straight, Sunggyu’s son has won first place.

As Sunggyu adjusts his bowtie in front of the mirror and dusts off his formal jacket, he feels a tug at his pants. He looks down to see the pouty face of his son, Hyunsoo.

“What’s up?” Sunggyu asks as he crouches down to meet him face to face.

"I think I'm not feeling too well," the boy says, and then adds a cough like an afterthought.

Sunggyu narrows his eyes, placing his palm on the boy's forehead. "Really?"

"Yes, I'm really sick." Hyunsoo plays with his fingers, looking down. HE has a normal body temperature.

Hyunsoo coughs again. "Do you think people will mind if I don't go to the talent show?"

"Well.. it’s your responsibility. Your teachers and the other participants spent so much time rehearsing," Sunggyu stands up, thinking of the possible reasons for his son's sudden reluctance. "Why don't you want to go? We're already dressed up."

"But I'm sick!" Hyunsoo reasons even though Sunggyu's pretty much discarded that reason. "We wouldn't want everyone to get sick."

Sunggyu walks to the couch with Hyunsoo trailing behind him. Okay, he reasons while looking at his watch, we have just enough time for an argument.

"Nobody is going to get sick because you're not sick. Just tell me why you don't want to go," he tells his son. "I promise I won't get mad."

(That depends on the situation, but Sunggyu won't tell him that.)

"It's just..." Hyunsoo trails off, rubbing his face. "Ugh, why is life so complicated?"

Sunggyu lifts his eyebrows. "This wouldn't have to do with Jiyeon crying last year because she got second place would it?"

Jiyeon is, much like Hyunsoo, a music prodigy. While Hyunsoo is well-skilled with the violin, however, she is best at piano. All throughout the six years they've been in elementary school they've been always competing. What is weird, however, is that they don't hold grudges against each other, but remain friends throughout the whole ordeal. Which, in all honesty, is more than what Sunggyu can say in relation to her father.

"No," Hyunsoo claims, pouting, but Sunggyu has known his kid for eleven years and he can spot a weakness when he sees one.

"Really? And it has nothing do with the fact that if you miss the talent show, then it's a clear win for her, would it?"

Hyunsoo looks away. "She's my best friend. I just want her to feel happy."

Bingo. There's the confession. And this time Sunggyu didn't have to play good cop bad cop.

"Okay, but consider this," Sunggyu starts, holding his son by the shoulders. "Would you feel like you won if she wasn't there to compete against you?"

Hyunsoo furrows his funny eyebrows (Genetics, man) as he thinks it over. "I guess not. No one is match for me except for her."

Sunggyu lifts his eyebrows, impressed. Sometimes his son resembles him so much is scary.

Anyway.

"So, do you think she would feel happy if she didn't win against you fair and square?" He asks, leading Hyunsoo to his late but surely inevitable realization. Hyunsoo nods. "When you love someone, you think of what's the best for that person, right?"

"Right." Hyunsoo nods.

"For example, if you really felt sick, I would let you stay home and rest, and I would make soup and we would watch movies the whole afternoon," Sunggyu explains, "because I love you. So what do you think is best for Jiyeon?"

"Beating me fair and square?"

Sunggyu nods, satisfied with their reasoning.

"Is that why you're always inviting her and her dad for dinner? Because uncle Dongwoo's restaurant is the best?"

Sunggyu feels his face growing warm, so he messes his kid's hair and says, "Just get your case and get to the car."

//

After trusting his son to the homeroom teacher, Sunggyu finds his seat in the sea of well-dressed parents, and puts the courtesy flower ornament on the chest pocket of his jacket. Not soon after, another man sits next to him.

"Ready to get your ass beat this year, Kim?" Woohyun says as a hello.

"You wish. We're taking the trophy home this year too," Sunggyu replies, a smile sneaking through. "Just like I did for three years straight when we were in high school."

Woohyun groans, but his smile betrays him. "Why do you bring that up every year?"

Sunggyu shrugs, and replies, "I don't know, it always makes me feel nostalgic."

"We used to hate each other so much," Woohyun says. "Who would have thought we would end up here."

Sunggyu really, really wants to fight the blush on his face. Right at the same time, one of the volunteers from the affiliated high school passes in front of them and gives them the program.

"It's kind of funny," he ends up saying once the girl leaves, feeling a bit awkward when the silence stretches.

Woohyun nods, reading over the program. "Our kids are last, like usual."

Sunggyu tries not to think too hard over the first two words of that sentence. "You know what they say. Best for last."

"Yeah."

Silence stretches over them while the chatter from the other parents becomes too apparent. Sunggyu scratches his neck from under his shirt.

"Listen," he says, turning to Woohyun. "I never got around to apologize, about your girl."

"What do you mean?" Confusion stretches across Woohyun's face. "Oh, last year? Don't be. Your kid won through his own merits." Then, he lifts an eyebrow. "Unless you pulled something with the judges."

Sunggyu scoffs. "It offends me that you would think that on me. Remember I won on raw talent for—"

"Three years straight," Woohyun replies with a roll of eyes. "I was there."

"Well, the thing is... Today Hyunsoo almost didn't want to come so that she could win," Sunggyu confesses, but when he sees Woohyun's eyes widening almost comically, he adds, "I talked him out of it, of course."

"Oh—That's good. Jiyeon would get very mad."

Sunggyu nods. "I figured. Remember when I almost did that?"

Woohyun bursts into laughter, but quickly calms down after a woman in front of them turns around to give them a nasty glance.

"Oh man, I had to drag you all the way from the dorms so that you showed up," Woohyun says. "To think I was so angry I almost—"

He stops himself then, clearing his throat, and Sunggyu narrows his eyes.

"You what?"

"Well, you know," Woohyun fumbles, laughing nervously, "we were always in this love-hate relationship and, I don't know, we were young."

Oh, if Sunggyu knew.

"But what were you going to say?" Sunggyu presses because he has a hunch, and because he wants to hear Woohyun say it.

This time is Woohyun's turn to get all red and flustered. "You just want to know for your ego."

Sunggyu shrugs. "Maybe."

"It's amazing how much you haven't changed."

"What were you going to say?"

Woohyun huffs, indignant. "I was so angry with you missing out on rehearsals just because of meme because I felt like I wasn't a match, and I guess it also made me angry how much I liked you," he confesses in one whole breath without looking at Sunggyu. "There, happy?"

"'Liked'?" Sunggyu repeats.

Woohyun glances at him, pouting like he's not a 30-something year old man. "Is that all you got?"

"Liked?" Sunggyu asks again because there's no way he's letting this matter drop.

"You should've been pretty stupid not to see I was dying for you," Woohyun says, crossing his arms, his program wrinkling on his tightened fists. Sunggyu has a feeling he's touching a sensitive nerve.

Sunggyu sighs. "I'm sorry I was too busy dying for you to notice."

Woohyun makes a—a sound? Maybe? Like he's choking or like he swallowed a squeaky toy, and it's honestly a bit funny, but then the man rests his head on his hands and groans. "I hate you."

The lights dim as Sunggyu wraps an arm around Woohyun's waist, trying to get him out of his mini breakdown. "Oh, it's starting."

"I really, really hate you."

Sunggyu shakes his head and smiles. "Hey, why don't we get dinner after this? Loser pays."

"... Fine."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm sorry it's not as heavily described, but i'll make it up with the next one. 
> 
> (ps follow me @aeggyu on twitter if u like, wanna talk)


	5. find me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Inspired by a song (Find me - Kings of Leon)  
> Word Count: 1,429  
> Warning: There's some drinking and talks of weed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i just....
> 
> *rubs face*
> 
> this had the potential to be so much more, but ultimately i gave up somewhere in the middle and ended up hating it lmao enjoy. (and sorry it's all in lowercase)

the night is young but sunggyu feels the deep november weather already making him tremble. his knuckles feel like they're about to fall off his fingers as he digs deep into his denim jacket. the feeling of his skin stretching with the cold wind around him is something he could live without. if he had known he would be out of the dorms after the curfew walking around an empty spot in the outskirts of the town, he would have brought something heavier.

but alas there he is, walking like a loser after taking public transportation that left him in a road that was still paved (because there was no way he was going to take a cab just to see if he could find woohyun.)

sunggyu hears it faintly at first, and as he walks, it's more evident. music, screaming. and above all, the cracking of a bunch of fireworks.

his eyes shine as thousands of lights illuminate the night.

a car honk shakes him out of his thoughts. he turns to see an old truck full of young teens. "going to the party?" the one driving asks. sunggyu nods. "get in! there's still enough space.”

figuring he doesn't have a lot to lose—what, his public transportation card? his phone?—sunggyu hops on the truck, and holds onto whatever surface he can, tightly, as the car bumps into rocks along the way.

//

it starts more or less like this: with sunggyu and woohyun going to the same posh boarding school in the countryside, far from seoul. they share a room and occasionally a bed, but that's here nor there, and sunggyu thinks he knows everything about woohyun. like for example, that the young man is shorter than him, likes to watch melodramas, and sometimes cries when his mom sends him care packages. he's also a huge nerd. none of that matters.

what he doesn't know, now, is what is important for this whole ordeal. one of the guys woohyun hangs out with sometimes—kibum—comes up to him one evening after class while sunggyu is at the library, and tells him woohyun sort of leads a double life.

he knows woohyun has a bike to go to and from the city when they're on break, and that he rents a storage room at the town near the school where he keeps when he's not using it. what kibum tells him, however, is that woohyun doesn't always stop using it when the school year is in course.

so it starts with woohyun's friend showing sunggyu a video of him doing whatever acrobatic shit woohyun thinks it's cool with his bike, surrounded by a crowd with bright lights. it starts with sunggyu, the student body president and pure example of rectitude, confronting woohyun because all this time he thought woohyun slept over at kibum's dorm to study? a lie.

(or maybe it starts one night, with sunggyu discovering a rose tattooed on woohyun's shoulder as the boy sleeps shirtless on their room, and realizing he doesn't know woohyun at all).

//

there's alcohol. like, everywhere. sunggyu isn't very well acquainted with it, but he's had his fair share of drinks here and there with friends at casual outings. nothing he's ever drank compares to the thing one of the guys dressed with neon colors and punk hair gives to him, though. the hard liquor burns down his throat as sunggyu swallows the liquid, and when he's done, he feels like he could breathe fire.

"have you seen woohyun?" he asks-yells to the guy who gave him the drink.

the guy shakes his head, points at his ear. “want some weed?” he pretty much screams. sunggyu declines, and the guy merely shrugs.

so, the search goes on.

sunggyu stops near a bonfire, scanning the crowd. not too far behind him, a stage of a moderate size hosts a rock group that provides entertainment for the teens gathered around it. it’s a cover group, playing classic songs in korean and english and some others that sunggyu has only heard of vaguely. a girl approaches him, but he shakes her off as politely as he can. much like the punkhead who offered him weed, she doesn’t press it or seem bothered by his attitude.

then, he hears the roaring of the engine from a couple of bikes that are arriving to the scene, and among the flames, he catches the sight of woohyun’s blonde hair as the younger man takes off his helmet.

(sunggyu remembers the summer woohyun came back from home with a self-dyed mess and got nearly kicked out, but his parents’ donations to the school kept him there. in retrospective, sunggyu should’ve known it had to do with something like this.)

he throws whatever is left of his drink (plastic cup and all) it at the bonfire, and as the flames grow in a grandiose showcase of the power of fire, sunggyu marches towards his roommate.

before sunggyu reaches him, however, woohyun turns around as if he had felt sunggyu’s stare on him, and their eyes meet.

for who knows how long, time stops, although sunggyu still hears the deafening strumming of the guitar, the cracking of the fire, the fireworks going off.

this place is doing things to him.

woohyun springs into step, nearly running up to sunggyu, and grabbing him by the shoulders. “what’re—”

“i want an explanation,” sunggyu demands first, crossing his arms in front of his chest. he tries to seem firm, angry, but it’s very difficult when woohyun’s appearance is so distracting. “are you wearing makeup?”

“how did you get here?” woohyun says, the soft smile betraying his narrowed, black-lined eyes. he looks happier to see sunggyu than he should.

“what, you think that because i don’t have a bike i can’t get as far as you?” sunggyu shoots back, annoyed that their conversation has consisted mostly of questions so far.

“oh,” woohyun goes a bit tense, clenching his fingers around the denim fabric. “do you come as a friend?”

“i come to take you back,” sunggyu replies, ignoring the brief second of hesitation he took to reply, and hoping woohyun does as well.

“really, is that all this is?” woohyun presses on, stepping so close that their chests are almost touching. “would you take a trip all the way here just because i’m so important you just _have_ to drag me back to the dorms, prez?”

the band behind them bids farewell as they play their last song, the riffs loud and the vocals louder. sunggyu still hasn’t replied.

bright lights with many colors start filling his vision, but everything in his periphery becomes a blur because woohyun is so, so close that their breaths mingle, puffy white in the dim lights.

“w-what?” sunggyu stammers, flushing in shame to be caught so easily.

“let’s pretend you walked all the way here just to find me,” woohyun explains, ignoring sunggyu’s _i didn’t walk_ in order to go on, “and we must go… or what? did you contact the authorities? school personnel? did you tell anyone you were coming at all?”

sunggyu narrows his eyes, refusing to admit that all the answers are a no. he feels the urge to run, to hide from woohyun’s stare. but he knows woohyun’s eyes are everything except accusatory, and he also knows woohyun is very different from what he seems sometimes.

sunggyu widens his eyes. “you set me up.”

woohyun nods, his smile nothing like what sunggyu expected (too bright for the night, too cheerful to be embarrassed). the young man feels not an ounce of shame.

“i wanted to show you what this life is like.”

a roaring scream from the band playing breaks their conversation, and sunggyu turns briefly to observe what is going on around them. there seems to be a sort of rumbling, growing energy ricocheting all over the place, with the music and conversations going on. in the distance, he hears the roar of more bikes like woohyun’s arriving to the scene.

woohyun’s lips are on his, then, devouring, taking him by storm. sunggyu forces himself not to think of woohyun’s ability to unwind him and drag him to the wild without any real effort. all he has to do is bait, hook him and then sunggyu is sunk.

“i have to admit i’m proud, but i’m also very angry,” sunggyu confesses, struggling against the voice that tells him they should go back home, to the safety of the known evils, instead of throwing themselves to the unknown lands of hedonism.

“and…?”

“....maybe a bit turned on.”

  
  



	6. Holding onto you

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Fall(ing for you)  
> Word Count: 1092

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this is very late and i wrote it in like one hour and a half, but i still wanted to post it even though the prompt probably meant 'fall' as in the season and not... this. but it was the first thing that came to my mind lol. it doesn't help that i've been watching a lot of miraculous ladybug so yeah... short superhero/bnha!au

It’s five thirty pm of a Sunday afternoon, and a side building of the Ewha Woman’s University blows up.

Sunggyu and Woohyun, in their normal, everyday identities, hear the explosion from miles away while on their date in the Trickeye museum. As the building trembles a little with the boom of the coming explosions, Woohyun moves away from posing in front of the painting of a snake about to eat him as Sunggyu puts his phone in his pocket with a sigh.

“It’s a sunday,” the oldest of the two complains, but nevertheless starts looking for the exit. “And there are probably some others around.”

Woohyun is already tugging off his hoodie, “Duty calls, my love.”

Sunggyu stares at the top of Woohyun’s costume and narrows his eyes, unconvinced. “I hope there’s a locker where we can put out clothes.”

—

Sunggyu and Woohyun met in… well, _a particular way._

Sunggyu was hanging off the top of a building when it happened, for starters.

The day went as usual: The sun shone, birds chirped, and U.A. campus Seoul was holding its high school entrance exam.

Frankly, Sunggyu wasn’t doing too well. His quirk consisted of paralyzing however looked at him in the eyes, but that wasn’t very helpful if the robots that students had to fight to obtain points didn’t actually have… eyes. So yeah, to say that Sunggyu was struggling was an understatement.

At any rate, he managed to get a couple of points in. One had been a bit of strategy and luck. By using himself as bait, Sunggyu managed to get in a couple of the machines’ aim. So he ran, through buildings and landmarks in the Seoul-simulator where all the participants were taking their exam simultaneously in the school premises. The robots seemed to have no spatial intelligence, for they followed him through all sorts of weird places without stopping to consider where they were going.

He didn’t know how, but he managed to get to the top of a building.

As the robots approached him, he glanced around. There was a beam sticking out of another building in front of him, far enough so that if the robots followed, they would surely fall to their demise. However, it was also far enough that if Sunggyu jumped and didn’t grab a hold of the beam, he was pretty sure he wouldn’t survive.

But he was growing desperate and the robots were approaching way too fast for his taste. He had to make it; there was no other way. After two years of fumbling about, not knowing what to do with his life, this was the only school he had applied to, despite his parents’ insistence on thinking on another career path. So…. it was this or nothing.

Sunggyu stepped back as far as he could without the pieces of metallic rubble catching up to him, and after yelling an expletive, he jumped forward.

As expected, the robots followed him, although they didn’t grab a hold of anything. Sunggyu wasn’t sure how many points they were worth all combined, but with that and a couple of people he had pushed aside from some falling debris, he hoped was enough.

In retrospective, it was a weird thing to be thinking about at that moment, since Sunggyu had only managed to grab the wooden beam with one hand, and his fingers were rapidly slipping.

Then, enter Woohyun.

The boy looked around his age, maybe even younger, and his smile was more annoying than welcoming, in Sunggyu’s opinion.

“Name of your saviour is Nam Woohyun.” He stood on the beam, offering his palm. “You look like you’re having some troub—”

Sunggyu couldn’t hear the rest of his sentence, for it was cut by Woohyun’s own yelp once the beam he was standing on—and that was slipping from Sunggyu’s hands—broke.

They fell through the air, screaming, before Woohyun grabbed a hold of Sunggyu’s hand, and then their fall started slowing down.

Sunggyu caught the sight of Woohyun smiling at him, their fingers interlaced as they fell, and tried to blamed his heart’s somersaults on the event.

He kept screaming, however, even once they were both approaching the floor, and the only pain he felt was of a piece of metal digging on his butt when they finally hit land.

“Are you crazy?” Sunggyu yelled, adrenaline still pumping through his veins. A part of him wanted to punch him, and another wanted to hug his well-defined body.

Woohyun looked like he was about to say something, but then leaned over Sunggyu and threw up.

\---

  
  


“Okay, so, whoever is in charge of this mess, please step forward,” Kontroller yells, stepping into ground zero. He has his hands in his costume’s pockets and with suspicious eyes, scans the place.

Luckily there do not seem to be civilians around, being a Sunday and all, but he doesn’t want to risk it.

Two people rush over to him, dressed in black from head to toe and carrying semi-automatics. Ironically, the only thing uncovered is their eyes. They point their guns at him, so Kontroller lifts both hands in surrender. He doesn’t say anything; just stares. They’re pretty much doomed when Kontroller activates his quirk.

“Yo, Namravi. I found two of them,” he calls to his boyfriend while the two people stand in front of him, petrified.

Namravi jogs up to him. “Woah, okay,” he says when he sees the guns. He approaches them and pries them off their fingers.

Kontroller says to them, “You can still make sounds even if your mouth is closed. Now tell me, are there more of you?”

One of them makes an _uh-huh_ sound, while the other groans desperately.

Namravi chuckles, patting him on the shoulder. “What, don’t like being petrified?” he asks the guy, who groans again. “Don’t worry, it’s quite fun once you get used to it. I’ve tried being petrified a couple of times myself and I love it.”

“I hate it when you reveal personal details like that to random people,” Kontroller mumbles, kicking the guns away from the guys in black. “Let’s search around. Try to move as many debris as you can. I’m worried there might be people under it.”

Namravi salutes. “Whatever you order, boss.”

Kontroller rolls his eyes. “Let’s just get moving.”

He’s lucky his face mask covers his cheeks, for they’re tinted a ruby red as his partner presses a chaste kiss on them while the petrified men yell in despair at being left alone and unable to move before the authorities are alerted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> their sh names are dumb because they chose them when the were teens lol
> 
> (ps. sunggyu’s quirk was maria/whimsigyu’s idea :P)


	7. Reply '07

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Ten years later  
> Word count: 1,394
> 
> Warning: This includes a bit of one-sided Gyuyeol, but ultimately yeol is cool with it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'M SORRY THIS WAS SO LATE. my winter break has been a bit hectic and full of writing. this is the first of a double update since it is so late. december prompts coming soon!

The night is young and the class of 2007 is finally meeting again for the first time in ten years. Sungyeol steps into the restaurant with his still-short hair and newly acquired muscles thanks to finally being discharged from the army recently.

About three tables around him are full, but the one he focuses on is still missing one person. He approaches it with solemnity, but his big smile betrays him once Sungjong spots him.

“Look who decided to show up!” he says, raising his beer at Sungyeol. Like a bunch of meerkats, the rest look up from their conversations and start yelling indistinct noises.

“What? An artist cannot be fashionably late anymore?” he asks with the same loudness, sitting down next to Hoya, in front of Sunggyu and with Woohyun flanking him on the other side.

..

The seven of them used to be a thing in the past. A very important thing, in fact. They pretty much ruled their grade, or at least that is what it seemed like in those times. Or rather, that’s how it felt for Sungyeol.

After graduation, they tried to remain close. They followed each other on social media and although they didn’t see each other much, their group chat was always active. But alas, not all relationships last forever. It went downhill somewhere through college (or at least college for them, Idol life for Sungyeol). There was no way to work around all of their schedules for the seven of them to meet. Little by little, the messages stopped, the memes became scarce, and the conversations became one sided and muted. They unofficially got rid of it once Sunggyu and Woohyun started their military service after college.

(Sungyeol getting his phone stolen and hacked, causing a nationwide scandal that might or might not have involved some raunchy texts with a model and indirectly lead to his early enlistment put the last nail in the coffin.)

But now, Sungyeol hopes they’re putting that behind in order to get together again, now that they're at a point in their lives with more abilities to manage their schedules and such. And he has a feeling they will, for good things are coming, like weddings, maybe. Some relationships are like that. Sometimes, rather than forever lost, they remain in pause until it's an appropriate time to unfreeze them again.

\--

“So,” Sungyeol starts long after they’ve starte drinking, already feeling a pleasant buzz reverberating in his head. “How are things in the love department going? Any couples? Any weddings coming up soon?”

He glances at his target, Sunggyu, but the one that bursts out laughing is Dongwoo, the youngest.

“I didn’t want to tell you guys so soon, but Junnie and I are planning to get married next year.”

Sungyeol senses Woohyun exhaling next to him (in relief?) and side eyes him, while Dongwoo jumps on a tirade of how he met his fiancée and what their plans for the future are and next to him, a very rowdy, very flushed Myungsoo shakes him in excitement to get the most information out of him.

Sungyeol looks at Sunggyu, this time more pointedly, until the other man looks away and drinks from his bottle of beer.

-

Years ago, Sungyeol and Sunggyu used to have a sort of intimate relationship. Past the boundaries of friends.

It was something kind of lighthearted, not very formal, but it was relevant enough for Sungyeol to remember what perhaps had been his best friend—and something else—between schedules. Relevant enough to think of what could have happened if they took that weird not-relationship a bit further.

Except it would never happen, and that was due to one simple reason: Sunggyu was in love with Nam Woohyun.

And Nam Woohyun was probably in love with Sunggyu too, except they hadn’t realized at that point in their lives. Sungyeol did, though, and the best part? He wasn’t bitter because while he knew Sunggyu was fond of him and they had fun together like no one else, he could also notice the tension between those two—Sunggyu and Woohyun nearly coming to blows over the time slot for soccer games and theater performances, Sunggyu and Woohyun refusing to admit how much they enjoyed bickering and how close it was to flirting, Sunggyu and Woohyun kissing drunkenly during a party that, if asked, Sungyeol would deny had involved unimaginable amounts of alcohol for a bunch of high schoolers.

But much like with Sungyeol, Sunggyu had never gone further with Woohyun. And unlike Sungyeol, Woohyun hadn’t gotten over him. (Sungyeol knew all of this because he still kept in touch with Sungjong, and to say that Jjong was a major gossip was an understatement).

So now, Sungyeol was determined to finally get this set for the good of his conscience and the relationship of his once best friends.

\--

When Dongwoo starts pulling the facebook photos of his and his fiancée’s trip to Rome, Sungyeol knows it’s time to switch tactics.

“Seriously, congrats,” he tells Dongwoo, lifting his bottle while everyone shouts _Cheers!_. “I don’t know if I could ever get married.”

Sunggyu snorts. “I don’t know who would ever trust their lives to you.”

They all laugh; Sungyeol’s the loudest.

“What, like you’re any better?” he counters.

“I bet you can’t even take care of a dog,” Sungjong joins on the teasing.

“He can take care of Woohyun alright,” Hoya mumbles to his beer, but everyone at the table hears him and noises explode again among the seven rowdy friends.

“That is not true,” Woohyun says with a voice uncharacteristically deep, followed by his high-pitched and obnoxious laugh.

“What, so he doesn’t take care of you?” Dongwoo asks, finding the thing way more hilarious than it is.

Sungyeol snorts, watching the tip of Sunggyu’s ears go red.

“No!” Woohyun shakes his head furiously.

“I think you’ve had enough,” Sunggyu says, reaching over to grab Woohyun’s beer, but the soccer goblin, bless him, has faster reflexes and snatches it before the other man can do anything about it.

He takes a gulp of it and then envelops Sungyeol in a one-armed hug even though his head can reach like, Sungyeol’s shoulder. Drunk Woohyun is going to bring such a good blackmailing material.

“Can you believe this guy?” Woohyun says. “He hasn’t changed a bit since high school.”

Oh, here it comes. Sweet, sweet gossip.

“I wouldn’t be surprised,” Sungyeol follows along. “Character development isn’t his forte.”

“Yeah yeah,” Woohyun dismisses him with his beer, inattentive to the interested stares he’s getting. “He’s always hiding what he’s thinking! I’m going crazy!”

Sungyeol shares a look with Sungjong, who bites his lower lip in anticipation. “What is he hiding? You’re still not together after all these years?”

“Seriously, Yeol—”

“Worse!”

“Woohyun—”

“He’s been dumping me for years and then coming back. And like a fool! I! Great disgrace, I keep accepting him!” Woohyun says as his eyes start to water, and Sungyeol widens his own. Okay... This kind of drama was not in their plan. “And now I think he’s about to dump me again!”

Everyone starts asking what comes to their minds.

“What—”

“So you’ve been—”

“All this time?”

“Can someone pass me another beer?”

“Aish, seriously!” Sunggyu yells and the surrounding six men around him fall silent as he digs into his coat’s pocket and puts a small box on the table, in front of Woohyun.

Everyone falls silent.

Slowly, Woohyun untangles himself from Sungyeol, who glances between Sunggyu and Woohyun, and then chugs his beer. This was not how he was expecting the night to go, but he’ll take it. Next to him, Sungjong offers him some of his snacks.

“What’s that?” Woohyun asks, his voice suddenly small.

Sunggyu rubs his face in a poor attempt to sober up. From the corner of his eye, Sungyeol watches Myungsoo pull out his phone to record the whole thing.

“What do you think it is?” Sunggyu replies, annoyed (and very, _very_ red). He then proceeds to open the black, velvet box.

And this is it, this is what has been building up to for at least ten years, what everyone has been expecting ever since the tension between those two became too real to stand.

The box opens, revealing a silver band intended only for Woohyun’s stubby fingers, and everybody at the table collectively loses their shit.


	8. sweet silver bells

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Love/Hate (Christmas edition!)  
> Word Count: 914

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so, my mom watched a Christmas Carol musical and although she didn't take me with her ( :( ) this was partially inspired by it. Enjoy!

Woohyun watches people enter the school’s auditorium as young students cut their tickets through the dotted line and welcome them with a smile. He’s standing near the south entrance, knowing he’s also close to a door through which only authorized ‘staff’ (read: theatre kids) can go. A couple of minutes ago, taking advantage of his boyish charms and the promise to get hot chocolate later, he sent one of the young students in search of his target, and now, like the good predator he is, awaits for his victim.

“Really?”

Distracted for a second by a woman with a funny-looking coat, Woohyun then turns around to face his greatest enemy, and the reason he’s standing in school grounds even though everyone else has pretty much left.

“Hello to you too,” he says to Sunggyu, who stands in front of him with his hands on his hips and his eyebrows furrowed in that unique way that has earned him the starring role in pretty much every school play since kindergarten.

“I hope you’re aware you just cut my make-up time in half,” Sunggyu says. “What do you want, Nam?”

Woohyun shrugs, a playful smile playing on his lips. “I just wanted to make sure you haven’t mentioned the Danish play and all,” he replies. “Because I want to be the one to do it first.”

“Oh fuck off,” Sunggyu crosses his arms. “Why are you really doing here?”

“Would you believe me if I told you I wanted to come to see you _actually_ break a leg on stage?”

“So you could take my place right then and there?” Sunggyu huffs, looking very much like a star. “Like you tried to take Myungsoo’s?”

“You know I wasn’t going for Scrooge anyway,” Woohyun mentions, trying not to pay too much attention to the sting that the memory produces. “If I were, you wouldn’t be required here.”

He tries not to let it show, but Sunggyu’s words manage to send Woohyun a couple of months back in time, when he must have gotten the craziest insanity bug in a lifetime because he decided it would be _fun_ to try for a part in this semester’s school play. He was not only good at soccer like everyone else believed, and before moving to the city, he had his chance at a local talent show where he got first place.

Woohyun liked to think that he had a decent voice, but apparently it was not enough to be the Ghost of Christmas Past in the musical version of A Christmas Carol. Apparently you had to know how to _act_ or something.

Anyway, dejected and a bit humiliated after the Main Assistant (that would be Sunggyu) had told him to try next semester, Woohyun had decided to hold a personal grudge against his condescending ass.

Which leads to where they are now, months later. (And if Woohyun has sneaked into some rehearsals, realized just _how much work_ goes into the play, and taken some pointers to try out for next time, that’s no one’s business.)

Sunggyu rolls his eyes, the way he purses his lips telling Woohyun he’s been caught. “I can’t believe you’re still sore you didn’t get a role.”

“You know I was just trying for fun,” Woohyun counters. “Soccer season is until spring and I had nothing better to do.”

“But still hurts, doesn’t it?” Sunggyu steps into his personal space, placing a hand over Woohyun’s shoulder.

“And how would you know?” Woohyun swats it away, looking anywhere but at Sunggyu. He clears his throat, showing him a fake smile. “Anyway, that’s not what I’m here for.”

“Oh really?” Sunggyu steps back, fully knowing he’s won this round. That conceited asshole.

“Yeah, I was just hanging a couple of flyers for next semester’s sports, and decided to make you waste some time.” Sunggyu’s face transforms into one of surprise, then, he narrows his eyes again.

“Yeah right,” he says, punching Woohyun in the arm. Woohyun has the feeling that if Sunggyu wanted it to hurt, he would actually put strength into it.

“Anyway,” Sunggyu says after a couple of minutes in silence. “I really need to go.”

Woohyun shrugs again. “Sure. After all, your make-up time has been cut in half. Although you don’t need a lot of it to look like an old man.”

“You are not to be trusted,” Sunggyu says, seemingly unshaken by his remark.

“Break a leg!” Woohyun says in a loud voice. “No, seriously, please! Seeing you in a cast would be hilarious.”

From the door, Sunggyu shows him the middle finger.

Woohyun is about to turn away, when Sunggyu calls after him.

“Wait!” Woohyun glances back at him, halfway expecting to see him showing  _both_ middle fingers up, so he doesn’t know what to make of the smile directed at him instead.

“What?”

“Thanks for coming,” Sunggyu says, and Woohyun hates how sincere he is. “You know how I know you’re not being fake?”

Woohyun asks, “How?”

“Cause if you were, you would’ve brought me flowers.”

And with that, the door snaps shut, and Woohyun laughs until his stomach starts hurting and the people coming to watch the play give him weird looks.

“You really don’t know me at all,” Woohyun mumbles to himself, thinking back to the bouquet of flowers he threw in the trash seconds after calling for Sunggyu. And if a tear slips from his eye, he will blame it on the maniacal laughter from seconds ago. “Asshole.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> he's just misunderstood you guys!!!1 that last part was so dramatic lmao
> 
> anyway. hey. so, taking this opportunity to tell you i'm getting lasik (laser eye surgery) and it's nothing serious but i might not be in my computer often during the following weeks, and when i am i'm probably gonna be writing the secret santa fic, so i might fall behind on the woogyuly prompts, but i will not fail! i'm gonna try to post them all. just... be aware they might be late OTL. anyway wish me luck!


	9. An ultra kind of love

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: I hate  
> (+ hanahaki disease)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so… first update out of three. sorry i'm late with this and they're kinda disorganised. uh… enjoy, i guess?

-

A knock on the stall.

“Are you alright?” Woohyun hears Hoya ask. “Everything is already packed up and ready to go. We’re just waiting for you.”

Panting lightly, Woohyun stares at the petals scattered throughout the floor and the toilet seat, and the ones floating in the water. He clears his throat.

His mouth tastes like roses, and not in a good, metaphorical way.

He stands up, dusts the remaining petals off his pants, and flushes the toilet. Then, he opens the door and pats Hoya in the chest with a smile. “Let’s go. It’s a school day.”

—

The next day.

Woohyun rests his hand on his palm and tries to pay attention in class, to set a good example for the rest of the students as his position as the class president dictates. The only issue is, Sunggyu is seated at the front, and Woohyun, like the martyr he is, cannot stop paying attention to the soft movements of his body as the other boy takes a nap right in front of the professor, who has long given up because Sunggyu somehow gets the best grades anyway (with Woohyun following close behind) and it is deemed useless to get him to listen.

That does not stop Woohyun from smacking him in the back of the head right after the professor leaves, on his way to buy himself some bread.

“Hey!” Sunggyu yells, rushing after him. His tiredness seems to have vanished, somehow. “What was that for?”

“You shouldn’t sleep in class,” Woohyun informs him, ignoring how close the other boy is to him as they walk through the halls.

Sunggyu laughs and, to Woohyun’s dismay, wraps an arm around his shoulders. “Well I got home pretty late after winning the battle of the band, you know?”

“I don’t know,” Woohyun replies, pushing him away. He tries to smile to avoid raising suspicion from the rest of the students passing by them. “Why are you following me anyway?”

“I was hoping for a congratulations or something,” Sunggyu says, looking for something in his pockets. “Don’t tell me you’re a sore loser, Woohyun-ie.”

Finally, he finds it—a lollipop, probably from Sungjong’s endless supply. The way he smiles as he unwraps it and puts it in his mouth can only mean bad news.

“Fuck off,” Woohyun chokes out when the taste of roses comes back, shoving him aside and rushing to the bathroom.

—

The weekend.

“You’re insane,” Sungyeol, his babysitter for the night, tells him as they navigate through the crowd in a shitty underground club where Sunggyu’s band is playing.

Woohyun mumbles something like “I’m aware, thank you,” but Sungyeol is not able to hear him.

Woohyun manages to get them a good spot near the stage by means of pushing and smiling politely. Sungyeol does not mind the back, but then again, Sungyeol does not care because he is tall.

The stage lights up. The show is starting.

Woohyun hates every bit of the situation he put himself into. The place, the people pushing him, the fact that he has to be among the crowd rather than onstage. And most importantly, he hates the person on the stage more than anyone else.

Because out there, Sunggyu is killing it. Woohyun knows people come to see the whole band, but it is Sunggyu—with his tight grip around the mic stand and his dark-rimmed eyes closed and his neck stretched as he belts out the lyrics to some obscure cover song that Woohyun would never listen to in his own accord—the one who makes them stay. It is Sunggyu who stares at the crowd with a position of power, like saying look, it’s me. It’s the one who will make you cry because you will never have me. And yet you will come back for more.

So Woohyun stays rooted on his spot and aching, burning with envy because he and his band should be the ones on the stage, should have won against this ratty little group formed out of self-taught hooligans who think their experimental stuff is worth something.

Fucking underdogs, why do people always root for them?

But he is also burning with a growin mix of longing and something he refuses to acknowledge because he knows that Sunggyu’s band deserved to win, and more importantly, because Sunggyu deserves all the attention and adoration.

He only wishes the stage was big enough for the both of them.

And also—

Sunggyu flips his bangs back and looks at the crowd. There is no mistaking it; their eyes meet.

Woohyun knows what happens next, but the first flow of petals still manages to catch him off guard. He tries to cough into his palm, but Sungyeol still notices, and starts to drag him out of the club. Sunggyu’s band hasn’t even finished a song. Woohyun hates his friend a little too much.

“I knew this would happen,” Sungyeol starts some time later, as Woohyun slides down the wall, still red-eyed and full of vertigo. “I told you and I told Hoya. First it’s petals, then you’re coughing full flowers. And what’s next? A bouquet? You die?” Woohyun does not reply. Sungyeol kicks a trashcan, cursing in frustration.

“Someone is going to hear you,” Woohyun tells him, throat aching. He rubs the snot off his face with his forearm and realizes at some point he started crying. “You’re being unnecessarily dramatic,” he says, maybe to Sungyeol, maybe to himself.

“I’m not the one dying for one-sided love,” Sungyeol mutters. “How’s that for dramatic.”

—

Monday.

Woohyun is walking home, hands in pockets, when he feels the weight around his shoulders. He refuses to look up.

“Hey,” Sunggyu says, excessively friendly. “Something funny happened this weekend.”

Woohyun does not reply.

“Aren’t you going to ask?”

“Why would I care?” Woohyun shoots a question instead. “And isn’t your home the other way? Are you following me home?”

“Oh, you know where I live? That’s creepy,” Sunggyu says, shaking him a little. “So, ask, ask.”

Woohyun wonders if continuing the conversation is worth it, aware that if he were to start coughing again, he would be discovered. Better not risk it.

“Seriously, fuck off.”

“Ey, that’s what you told me the other day when you ran off. What was that about, anyway?”

Never mind. Just how easy is it for Sunggyu to corner him? Dangerous territories are ahead.

“So what happened to you this weekend?” he asks tentatively, to which Sunggyu laughs.

“Caught you. Are you running away from me? I saw you in the crowd while I was performing. You and your friend disappeared pretty quickly.” He lets go of Woohyun, who considers rushing off for a brief moment, but decides against it.

Like Sungyeol said, it is not long before the petals will turn to flowers, which Woohyun guesses has to do with roots growing inside his lungs or something. In all honesty, he is not too sure of the process, but he knows there is a way to cure it, and he has talked it over with his parents. It is only a matter of when.

So, for some stupid reason, Woohyun considers facing Sunggyu once and for all would be the decent thing to do before going to the doctor and never feeling anything other than disdain for the other ever again. Maybe, that way, a tiny, little part of the feeling will remain somewhere hidden, where it cannot be found by anyone even after the procedure.

He looks up, and Sunggyu is staring at him with his mouth wrapped around the stick of his now constant lollipop.

“Yes, we were there. Why do you care?”

Sunggyu shrugs. “Who says I do?”

“You followed me for blocks,” Woohyun points out and Sunggyu takes the candy out of his mouth.

“I guess I did. I do,” the other male says. “But why? I’m not sure.” Woohyun says nothing, staring at the bright red tint in Sunggyu’s lips. Sunggyu notices. “Ah, my lips? This thing keeps staining them. Wait, do you want one? I think Sungjong gave me some more.”

He puts it back in his mouth as he rummages through his backpack. Woohyun glances around at the deserted street and considers running away a second time.

“It’s fine, you keep it,” he replies with the intention of walking away, pushing him away with his hand placed on Sunggyu’s shoulder.

Sunggyu catches him by the wrist and takes the candy off his mouth again, his backpack falling on to the floor. “This thing you do… It’s getting annoying.”

“What thing?” Woohyun asks, pulling his hand away, unaware of how close they have gotten.

“Shoving me.”

“It’s not on pur—”

“You hate me and I get it, but you should be a little less rude about it,” Sunggyu goes on, pretending Woohyun said nothing. “I haven’t even done anything to you.”

“You—gh—”

Flushing with embarrassment and hurt pride, Woohyun tries to explain himself but the only thing that comes from his mouth is a cough that then turns into two, and more, and before he realizes he is spitting out fully grown flowers of various sizes and colors. All of this while Sunggyu stands in front of him, speechless.

Woohyun slides down the wall like when he was with Sungyeol, eyes red and burning as flowers scatter around him. Sunggyu remains silent. Finally, the coughs stop.

Woohyun tries to regain some dignity while rubbing his eyes, and when his vision clears again, he finds Sunggyu, wide-eyed as he grabs a spit-covered petal.

“How… how long?”

Woohyun curls himself into a ball. “Fuck off.”

“No, seriously. How long have you been… like this?” Sunggyu asks, placing a hand on Woohyun’s knee. His palm feels too hot. “Woohyun? Woohyunie?”

He remembers Sunggyu calling him that nickname before, but it is always full of mirth, spoken like a joke. This time, however, it carries a certain tenderness that he did not know Sunggyu was capable of.

“A couple of days,” he ends up replying without meeting the other boy’s eyes. “Last week, I don’t know.”

“Last week…” Sunggyu trails off. “The contest?”

Woohyun figures that he has nothing left to lose after the show he just gave, so he nods.

He hears Sunggyu curse, but it is all in the distance, far off as Woohyun tries to disconnect from this terrestrial world. He hears Sunggyu’s clothes ruffling as the boy stands up.

“Get up.” Woohyun hears the order. “Come on, get up.”

“Why?”

“Why not?” Sunggyu shoots back, offering his hand. “Let’s go to a café or something, were we can talk.”

“About what?” Woohyun replies warily, but grabbing the extended hand.

“A crab’s eternal lifespan, obviously. Are you always this difficult?”

“Only when I’m so in love I might die,” Woohyun tries to joke, dusting off his pants. He braces himself for the rejection, but it never comes. “Anyway, where did your candy go?”

“Oh, yeah, I dropped it. And I think I have no more left. Sungjong gave them when I stopped smoking, but I finished them all. I can only offer you this.”

He leans forward, pressing his lips to Woohyun’s. It tastes like cherry.

Little by little, Woohyun’s chest starts feeling lighter.


	10. Long live the reckless and the brave

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: TGIF  
> (also kinda? a little? inspired? by this? https://twitter.com/woogyuly/status/957449149418475522)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow ok they're like, hella drunk in this. please forgive me.

Woohyun is very dangerous.

Sunggyu thinks that thought as he downs in another beer after his, what, fourth one? Maybe third? Because this is not the first one, right? Who is he even asking, anyway?

But back to woohyun. Yes. Woohyun. With his innocent smile and snaggleteeth and cute bangs brushed aside as he bites his lips and smiles again because that’s all he fucking does when he’s fucking drunk wHY THE FUCK—

“Sunggyu! Your turn!”

“What?”

“The bottle! It pointed to you,” from his side, a decidedly more coherent Bora yells at him, “so pay attention. We’re making you do dumb shit.”

Or maybe not.

They’re all sitting in a circle. It’s like, a party, right? No, wait. It is a party. To celebrate… something. The start of the semester. Or is it the end? Maybe it’s the end because, of all the things, Sunggyu can recall with perfect clarity how he’s been annoyed at Woohyun for sitting next to him on pretty much all the lectures, sharing his notes and all that cute stuff.

So yeah. It was a good semester.

“Sunggyu!”

“What!”

“Pay attention!”

“I am!” he yells, gripping the shirt of the person next to him (Woohyun, but Sunggyu is not aware). “What are you making me do?”

He hears a collective groan spreading among the circle of about ten people, Bora being the loudest one.

“We were having a discussion about boys going commando, did you really space out?”

“Hey Sunggyu!” from the other side of the room and having a completely different conversation, Sungyeol yells at him. “Who am I?”

He starts making a very distasteful imitation of Nell’s Stay, but Sunggyu still joins in and they start a singing-slash-yelling match.

“Jongwan! And you’re doing a very bad impression of him!” he yells back when they’re done, and while Sungyeol says, ‘see, he would obviously get it!’ Sunggyu feels an arm wrap around his shoulders and pull him back into the game.

“Come on, pay attention, or Bora’s gonna get really mad,” Woohyun says, voice hoarser than usual due to the alcohol in his system, and then offers him one of those killer smiles of his. Sunggyu tries not to faint.

“Yeah, whatever,” he says, shrugging off his touch and punching him in the arm. “So, what were we talking about?”

“Going commando.”

Sunggyu furrows his eyebrows. “That feels awful! I had to do it once because all my underwear was in the washing machine and it took longer than I expected.”

“Well now you gotta do it again,” Bora’s boyfriend (whose name, in all honesty, Sunggyu does not remember) says, clinking his cup against his girlfriend’s when he’s done.

“What, really?” Sunggyu whines, crossing his arms over his chest. “I don’t want to play this game anymore.”

He’s about to stand up and join whatever conversation Sungyeol was having about Nell (which let’s be real, sounds a thousand times more interesting) when Hoya calls him out. “What are you, a coward?”

Narrowing his eyes, Sunggyu makes Woohyun hold his beer before standing up and fumbling with the laces of his cotton shorts.

“Do it in the bathroom!”

“Ugh,” he says, with his shorts riding low on his hips. “This is the last time I’m playing this game.”

Once in the bathroom, Sunggyu throws some water on his face and stares at himself in the mirror. Then, he giggles.

—

“Here you go,” he says once he’s back, throwing his underwear at Bora’s face.

“You pig!” She throws it back, but instead of hitting Sunggyu, it hits a can of beer and spills all the contents on the floor.

Sunggyu is quick to react, despite having… how many beers on him? A lot? So he uses the closest fabric to clean up the mess while Woohyun puts the nearly empty can aside. What he’s not quick for, however, is realizing that the closest fabric is, in fact, his underwear.

The whole group explodes in laughter when he lifts the soaked boxers for everyone to see, and he decides that it’s his (shared) apartment anyway, so fuck it. He can get some others when the game is done. With a bunch of whistles echoing, he throws them somewhere back.

—

The game becomes more animated after that, with crazy dares getting more and more drastic, like making Hoya drink from a cup of all their drinks combined (beer does not go well with mango juice and tequila) or Bora getting a haircut. And at some point, they start involving other people. (Call your ex to tell him to fuck off, start a change.org petition to change your grades and share it on all your social media, confess who of the group would you fuck, and things of the sort.)

“Make out with someone next to you,” the girl in front of Sunggyu—one of Bora’s friends, of course—tells him.

Sunggyu opens his mouth, then glances at Feeldog (Bora’s boyfriend, and honestly, his nickname is honestly worse than not knowing his name at all) and then at Bora, and closes his mouth again and finishes the vodka that has mysteriously appeared on his cup.

He looks to his right. The girl shakes her head. He nods. Kissing an unwilling girl? Sunggyu is not like that. He gives her a thumbs-up. Good call. Then he looks to his left. Woohyun nods. Sunggyu gulps.

For the first time in the night, Sunggyu is aware of the music playing in the background, the deep bass reverberating in him in rhythm with his heart beating frenetically. It seems to envelop him, clouding his sense of hearing, when Woohyun cradles his cheek and leans forward.

Their kiss starts slow, almost shy, but now that Sunggyu has gotten a taste of alcohol and spicy snacks, and something, who knows what, unequivocally Woohyun, he’s decided he wants more. Somewhere in the background, he hears someone yell ‘record some evidence!’ but all he cares about is Woohyun’s hands on him, pulling him closer as they keep lip-locking.

Woohyun leans back a little, but Sunggyu follows him, hooking a leg around his hips. Woohyun replies by wrapping his arms around Sunggyu’s waist as he pulls Sunggyu’s bottom lip between his teeth, making a throaty sound. Sunggyu whines. It has started to become too stuffy in the room. The music comes back to him and it’s too loud. Woohyun’s hands are too hot, his palms sweaty, and Sunggyu—

Sunggyu is hard.

He realizes that when he feels Woohyun shift in his place and his legs rubs against Sunggyu’s erection, which, considering the previous dare, must be pretty obvious.

But Woohyun is still kissing him, making cute little sounds like he doesn’t care that Sunggyu is pretty much rubbing himself on his legs and, well, when will he ever get a chance like this with his best friend and the man he’s been crushing on since they were paired up for a project almost two years ago?

Amidst the hoots and hollers of the crowd, Sunggyu climbs on Woohyun’s lap.

—

“Babe.”

…

“Baby…”

…

“Honey…”

…

“Sunggyu, seriously.” Sunggyu feels Woohyun shaking him, but he has decided it’s too early and too bright to pay attention. He smacks the hands aside, which then wrap around his (naked?) chest.

“Wake up, it’s important,” Woohyun says, this time to Sunggyu’s ear, and well, with a voice as deep as that, he makes a very compelling argument.

So Sunggyu opens one (1) eye. And only halfway through. “What is it?”

“So I was sent a very interesting video of us from last night…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for leaving it like that lmao (no i'm not)


	11. untitled

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Instagram AU

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> finally, the third out of three updates today!

“ _So, Nam Woohyun, this is the first time in an event like this, tell us what your impressions are? Is it what you expected it to be?”_

Woohyun grabs the mic as it is passed to him with practiced confidence and charisma as he gives a speech that seems almost artificial, but that somehow works. It gets the camera on him.

“…and, you know, big shout-out to my friends out there making me look this good,” he says, with a sweet smile and a cheeky gesture to frame his face and make him look cuter. “Follow their accounts at…”

Sunggyu sighs and pauses the video. He leans back on his chair and brushes his bangs aside. What to say about Nam Woohyun, influencer extraordinaire? He’s been watching videos of him all morning. Has memorized his Instagram posts by date and has also color coded them and organized them by:

  * Type (photo or video)
  * Recurrent brands (Fitness, clothing, eye make-up [that he probably doesn’t even do himself])
  * Food
  * People he’s with (Other influencers? Celebrities?)



And finally,

  * His face (which there is a lot of, ok?)



-

Sunggyu is supposed to be a music and theatre writer, not a pseudo-celebrity gossiper with nothing better to do. Epik High’s new album is coming soon and he could be out there interviewing fucking _Tablo_ or going to a Mozart play or something, but instead he’s trapped in his stupid office because Sungyeol is doing some overseas trip to Belize, of all countries, and the online magazine just couldn’t wait to talk about Korea’s biggest influencer showing up at the Seoul Music Awards.

Sunggyu sighs, tapping his fingers in the desk. Glancing around, he considers his options. Writing about Woohyun doesn’t mean he has to say nice things; he just has to give people something to talk about… right?

—

_**nwh91** has started following you_

Sunggyu blinks at the notification of his phone.

A couple of days have passed since the publication of his article, which has received mixed responses. On one hand, there are the online threats of Woohyun’s Angry Fans, but on the other… Well, no one ever comments on online articles anymore. But then again, it’s not like the magazine is asking for it. The only thing that matters is that the article gets shared around. Which is exactly what happened, and it (and its author) must have reached Woohyun by now.

So what now, he thinks to himself, unblocking his phone and tapping on Woohyun’s profile. He has added a couple of pictures of his handsome face, mostly. Sunggyu cringes to himself a little, and admits that yes, Woohyun is indeed handsome. He wouldn’t be so popular online if that wasn’t the case.

Sunggyu puts his phone away. Of course, a face is just a face if there isn’t anything deeper under it.

However, some time later, after making himself comfortable with a cup of coffee, Sunggyu opens the app again and scrolls down for a bit before going back to Woohyun’s profile. Out of curiosity, he checks his stories. A couple of screenshots of the songs he’s listening to, a picture of the sunset, some sponsored things, another picture, this one of himself posing with the program of a play, and lastly, a message written with the neon font on a black background: _All Shook Up was amazing, come support the show!_

“Are you trying to appeal to my tastes to win me over, Mr. Nam?” he mutters to himself with a smile.

That would be funny.

Just for that picture, and because Sunggyu likes doing charity, he follows Woohyun back.

—

Scratch that. Fuck charity.

Sunggyu sighs as he makes himself comfortable in the stupid chair in front of the stupid runway where the stupid models are doing their thing. He shakes off those thoughts. The models are not stupid; they’re just doing their job.

And like the models, Myungsoo, the photographer sitting next to him is also doing his job without saying anything, which would be fine in most cases, but Sunggyu is bored. B o r e d. He’s just covering this “charity fashion show” because Sungjong, the one who’s usually in charges of this things is in some Fashion Week on the other side of the world and of course they have to cover both events, _why wouldn’t they?_ Sunggyu wishes they had more personnel so he could do his music thing in peace, but alas, life isn’t so sweet.

He tries to pay attention to the show, but it’s not like it matters anyway. The most important part of his job has already been covered with interviews before this thing started. Now, all that he’s looking forward to is the cocktails at the after-Gala.

His eyes start to wander when the outfits the models become a bit repetitive, and guess who’s right across the runway, sitting down almost right in front of Sunggyu?

Woohyun smiles and gives him a small wave. Sunggyu sighs.

—

At the Gala, he runs into Woohyun again. Actually, scratch that. He walks up to Woohyun because apparently Sunggyu said to himself that he likes charity cases and somehow he’s being punished in all the possible ways for that. Also because the man is standing in like, a corner, glancing around like a lost Pomeranian, and it’s just _sad_.

Also he wasn’t like, rude, or anything, but maybe he was a little harsh on his article, so he should apologize or something. Maaaaaybe. Not that much. Actually nah. He just thinks the man could use some company.

Sunggyu finishes his (in all honesty, not that great) cocktail and grabs another. Grabs two, actually, and sets off towards Woohyun.

“What a night, right?” he says, offering Woohyun the cocktail.

Woohyun thanks him with his practiced smile. “It was fun.”

Sunggyu laughs. “Yeah, it doesn’t look like it for you.”

“I was just catching a breather.”

“In the corner.”

“Yeah, it’s tiring to make all these big contacts, you know,” Woohyun says, still smiling. “Especially when you don’t know many people.”

“And when you’re not even a celebrity.”

“Wow you are assertive,” Woohyun says, then takes a big gulp from his cocktail. “You definitely convey that into your articles.”

“Ah, so you recognized me,” he replies, a bit on the defensive, eyeing his own drink. “Figured that following me had its perks.”

“Yeah, even though you don’t post many pictures of yourself,” Woohyun says, clearing his throat. “I was actually expecting Dongwoo to come, he always makes these kinds of events fun.”

Sunggyu recalls that Dongwoo has been asked to cover for Sungjong a couple other times. Had Sunggyu known he was friends with Woohyun, he would have assigned Dongwoo the article a long time ago.

“What, they’re not fun by their own right?” he asks with faked enthusiasm, and Woohyun sees right through it. “I agree. He should’ve been the one covering this event. I could be home, sleeping.”

“Gah, I wish I was home sleeping, too.”

Sunggyu lifts an eyebrow. “Are you really not enjoying yourself?”

Woohyun makes a weird motion with his hand, spilling a bit of the drink on his hands. “I am, and I know this comes as a surprise, but I’m kind of an introvert. I need time to recharge after stuff like this, and I’ve been working nonstop these past few days.”

Woohyun, an introvert?

“Really,” Sunggyu says. “I didn’t pin you for the type.”

“Well, it is like that when all you see is the pictures,” he replies with a light tone while glancing around the room, but Sunggyu can almost hear a small bit of bitterness behind those words.

“This is about my article.”

Woohyun looks back to him, a slightly lost expression on his face. “I’m not trying to sound rude or anything,” he says. “I’m just… you know, I wish you interview me next time, or something. I felt like you were writing about a thing you had never seen before.”

Sunggyu considers defending himself, but in all honesty, he’s kind of having a good time.

“I’m… I’m sorry. That’s exactly what I did,” he confesses, covering his face as he laughs at Woohyun’s expression. “You’re right. Let me make it up to you with some mini-feature or something. I’ll see what I can do.”

Woohyun’s eyes almost seem to light up. “There are a lot of things you’ll be surprised to know about me.”

“Like that you enjoy musicals?”

Woohyun’s cheeks are tinted pink, but Sunggyu isn’t sure if that’s not because of the cocktail. “Ah… that. I have to confess I looked into your profile and the other articles you wrote.”

“Ah-hah!” Sunggyu says. “I knew it!”

“I’m sorry, ok? I was just like, ‘who is this theatre nerd, and why is he writing about me?’”

“Hey!” Sunggyu butts in, but Woohyun doesn’t let him say more.

“But I looked into your other articles and I decided to give musicals a try because I was curious. So it ended up being more fun than I expected. Maybe you could tell me more about plays and… stuff?”

Sunggyu stares at him as he drinks his cocktail, marveling at how Woohyun seems to shrink into himself under his stare, his smile not as polished as usual. So maybe there is more than the face.

“Let’s make a deal. What don’t we get out of here and go to a coffe shop, where you tell me about yourself and the things I didn’t write and I share my marvelous theatre knowledge?”

“You’re so pretentious,” Woohyun says, grabbing his hand and pulling him along, “but I’m in.”

—

A couple of days later, Woohyun posts a picture of two hands holding play tickets. Sunggyu knows this not because he saw the Instagram account, but because he took the picture.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope you enjoyed all three of these. let me know which one was your favorite!


	12. the song of the fox

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is based on [bleunari's fanart](https://twitter.com/bleunari/status/988507998837444609)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For woogyuly week... eh. Either 1 or 3 I guess. I apologize, I'm very bad at coming up with aus based on fanart ;; but I tried my best. Sorry there weren't more works this month!

The first time Woohyun sees him, it snows.

He is playing in the snow with his friends when his feet take him to the forest nearby. He does not know why, but it beckons him. In a secluded part of the forest, he finds the fox with its tail coiled around itself, snarling furiously at the trap that has caught one of its front legs.

Woohyun takes a step, and then another. The fox, white and long haired, unlike anything that Woohyun has ever seen, growls at him, baring its teeth—white as its fur.

The young kid stares at the trap that his father set and the reddish snow around it, and then looks back at the fox. The fur would certainly be worth a lot; Woohyun has a feeling it must be rare. He wonders if he should call for his father and let him decide what to do.

As if reading his thoughts, the fox stops growling.

“Free me,” it says. Woohyun, crouching in the snow, blinks.

“You speak?” he replies, phrasing his statement as a question.

The fox nods. “I am a powerful spirit. If you free me, I can give you anything you want.”

Woohyun looks around, and then back at the fox. He does not know if he is imagining things.

“If you’re so powerful, why did you get caught?” Woohyun asks, narrowing his eyes.

The fox looks away. Woohyun wonders if he has made the spirit embarrassed.

A placid wind blows through the trees. He gulps.

“Anything I want, you say,” he speaks again, approaching the trap, “in exchange of your release?”

The fox nods, still looking away.

“Prove it.”

The fox looks back, but its eyes are distant. Perhaps distrustful.

“You would have to release me first,” it says.

Woohyun sighs, exasperated. He has heard about fox spirits and knows of their tricks and cunningness. His father would punish him if he let go of one as rare as this one in exchange of nothing.

“Give me your word,” he demands. “Tell me you won’t run away when I release you.”

The fox bares its fangs again. Has Woohyun insulted him?

“You have my word.”

“You will give me everything I want if I release you,” Woohyun says, to confirm.

The fox turns around as best and it can and stares at Woohyun in the eyes. Woohyun thinks that even if the fox had not spoken, he would have known that it was no ordinary fox. The eyes look far too intelligent to belong to a simple beast.

“ _When_ you release me,” it says, “I will grant you one wish. If you build me a shrine to honor our deal, right in this place, I will favour you for the rest of your life.”

Woohyun stays silent, contemplating his options. Finally, he says, “Make it so that me and my family live a good life.”

The fox nods. "You're a good kid. Others would have asked for food or toys." He pauses, then commands, "Pluck twelve hairs from my tail and take them to your father. Tell him to go to the mountains to become the apprentice of an artisan of the gayageum."

With careful steps, Woohyun approaches the fox and does as told. He watches with fascination how the hairs grow into silk strings when he plucks them out. After the display of the fox's power, he undoes the trap.

“Well," the fox says, but its voice comes from somewhere else. Woohyun turns around to find a man standing in front of him, hiding his injured arm along the folds of his foreign, expensive-looking robes. Woohyun is quick to note the long, white hair and the fox ears that adorn the man's head. "I hope we see each other again."

And with the wind, he is gone.

  
  


—

“Aren’t gayageum players usually female?”

Woohyun stares at the small council formed in front of him, sitting at a distance. In the centre lies the emperor, a boy not much older than Woohyun was when he discovered that the fox spirit blessed him with the ability to play the gayageum with dexterity and skill.

He looks down, unsure if he has to reply. Luckily, one of the older men does it before the young man can embarrass himself.

“He was blessed, your majesty,” the man says, a twinge of hope in his gruff voice. He was the one who discovered him on a trip to the countryside and like an exotic gift, brought him to the capital. “He can play like no other.”

“Blessed? By whom?” the kid asks in disbelief. Woohyun does not look up. “I’m the only one who has that kind of authority.”

Woohyun thinks back to the shrine in the forest, built with the same wood from a paulownia tree than the instruments made by the hand of his father. Who, indeed, blessed him? Sometimes he doubts he did not make up the man with long hair and blue robes after freeing the fox.

“It’s a matter of speech, your majesty,” the old man replies. “He is very skilled, regardless of his gender. Shall we listen to him?”

Woohyun looks up for a brief moment to see if there is approval on the emperor’s eyes. Although bored, His Majesty nods at him.

Woohyun goes as far down as he can in a bow, as he did when he was introduced, and takes a deep breath. He strikes the first of the twelve silk strings made by the fox spirit. The melody flows through him, as if he were the bridge that connects the wind and sound, a mere channel between thought and melody. He touches, caresses the cords with tenderness and yet maintains a constant rhythm that at times rings a bit in discordance. Like wind coiling around the trees in a forest. Like nature. That is the charm; that is the virtue of the gayageum.

When he ends the melody, he expects a few claps, but the room is silent. With his heart on a sunken place and his forearm wiping sweat of his forehead, he looks up. They—a council of about ten men and a child—stare.

“Make sure his family does not lack anything,” the emperor finally speaks, although he sounds out of breath. “He will remain here, playing for me.”

—

The years go by. Woohyun, for the most part, watches them pass.

Dutifully, as with anything he ever did, he plays for the emperor. Tries to teach him, too, but the brat is too impatient and lacks determination to play consistently, so they drop it at some point. His Majesty, however, keeps Woohyun in the palace for entertainment.

For nearly ten years, Woohyun stays. For the same amount of time, he dreams of the man with long, white hair and thinks back to the shrine back home, wondering if his mother is taking care of it. That the words "I hope we see each other again" ring in his head almost every night is a secret he will take to the grave.

  
  


—

There is an important reunion tonight, the hallways whisper. Voices from outside talk of marriages. Woohyun finishes writing to his mother and starts dressing himself in the silk clothes he has been provided.

Later, he will play for the attendees in the important meeting. If the father of any prospective wife is among the crowd, Woohyun’s duty will be to showcase his skills as one of the emperor’s assets among many. To captivate the audience.

It makes him a bit nervous, but also fills him with pride.

When a servant calls for him, he is ready.

Later, as he stands in front of the crowd while what seems to be a master of ceremonies introduces him, he lets his gaze roam around the room with discretion. The group consists of men and women alike. The emperor—now a young man—stands in the middle of them all. If it is not a reunion to discuss marriage or celebrate an arrangement, it must be a self-indulgent party, an excessive display of wealth.

His eyes stop, frozen, at the sight of a man with a blue, foreign-looking tunic. But, although that is what catches his attention at first, it is not what makes his gaze stay. It is the hair, first, and then the eyes: narrowed and sharp, maybe by nature, maybe in disdain.

It has to be him.

Woohyun wonders if this is a dream, a hallucination.

It is long before he realizes that the announcer has stopped introducing him and now he sits in front of the silent crowd. Snapping out of his trance, he bows deeply and sets to his task.

His hand-work is snappier than usual, his strokes short and slightly nervous. He prays there is not a music connoisseur among the crowd, although he knows the emperor might mention something to him later. However, he is far from embarrassing to the crowd. His skill is still as evident, his passion as pure.

When he is done, he is received by applause.

He bows again, then looks up. The first thing he notices is the smile from the white-haired man.

—

Later that night, the emperor makes everyone take a stroll through his garden. His Majesty talks to the wise men surrounding him, but around his arm, a young lady rests with her head posed on his shoulder.

The servants have hung lanterns through the different paths that at times intersect, at times diverge. Woohyun stands a bit far from the group of people surrounding His Majesty, which becomes fractured as some men are ignored. Young women and other men—family members who will go back home with an arrangement with the ladies that were rejected by the emperor—form smaller, more lively groups.

Woohyun watches them too, and for a brief moment considers joining them, but then he remembers the man with the fox-like smile. He scans through the crowds with no luck.

“Oh, it started snowing,” he hears one of the ladies say.

Woohyun looks up to find the tiny flakes floating down onto his palm. When he looks back down, a figure stands next to him.

“I prefer it when it snows quietly like this. I’m not very fond of storms.” Woohyun glances at the man, who also has his arm extended and his palm open. He stares at Woohyun. “Wouldn't you agree?”

 _I hope we see each other again_ , Woohyun thinks he hears the man say, years ago, on a forest and not a garden, when it snowed like this.

"It's quite nice," he comments lamely.

They do not share any other word as they walk along the path, but the silence does not last long.

“I didn't think I would ever meet you again,” Woohyun says, straight to the point. Then, he narrows his eyes, not missing how the man lacks the fox ears that adorned his head the first time Woohyun saw him. “Are you real?”

The man laughs, his eyes disappearing when he smiles.

“I am very real,” the man says and bows lightly at a couple of girls walking by. “My human name is Sunggyu, if you care to know.”

"I'm Woohyun, but you already know that,"—Sunggyu nods—"when you watched... me. Back there. Yes," He trails off, trying to pretend that his heart is not beating on his ears. “Your name! I like that. Knowing you have a name.”

Sunggyu laughs again, this time a bit quieter, and they stroll down the gardens while following the group surrounding the emperor from a safe distance. Woohyun feels the flakes melt on his skin as soon as they touch it. Neither the party nor Woohyun and Sunggyu seem to care of the snow.

“Your family has kept my shrine well,” Sunggyu adds after a while. Woohyun wraps his arms around himself. “And your father’s business is going well.”

“I have asked my mother to take care of it,” he replies.

“She is good, but to tell the truth, I miss you caring for it,” Sunggyu adds. “I asked you, after all.”

Woohyun snorts. He cannot say his life has lacked anything, but still, “You know I will have to be here as long as the emperor wants me to.”

Sunggyu shrugs. The strands not tied on his loose ponytail slide off his shoulders. Woohyun tries not to stare. “A shame, but it’s the price to pay.”

“I am thankful, though, for my abilities,” Woohyun is quick to correct himself. He would not want the man to misunderstand.

Sunggyu smiles this time.

“I happen to like the arts, and fine wines as well,” he says. Then, standing in front of Woohyun, a mere breath away from his lips, adds, “If you ever happen to want some company.”

He does not let Woohyun reply, for he strides forward to pay his respects to the emperor before he leaves.

The snow keeps falling.

—

That very same night, in the confines and secrecy of his room, Woohyun places a plate with the finest wine he could get a servant to give him, given his status, and leaves it on the windowsill.

As the wind blows outside and a storm rages on, Sunggyu appears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> honestly if a fox ever talked to me first i'd be like wtf but then i'd be like hell yea give me money.
> 
> (listen, i didn't write it, but i hope the hint that there were sexy times ahead was noted)


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